McConnell's primary opponent uses UK-Duke confusion in new ad to run during big game

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Matt Bevin announced a new ad poking fun at the basketball blunders made by U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell’s campaign this week. And the commercial — Bevin’s first TV ad in a month — will air during Friday’s Sweet Sixteen match-up between the University of Kentucky and University of Louisville Louisville

The beginning of the Bevin ad, called “March Madness,” is based on the energy surrounding Kentucky’s basketball traditions and relates that to politics. Bevin is in front of a NCAA bracket and then shows McConnell in a Duke uniform when Bevin says “even if your team is already out of the tournament.”

In a statement, the Bevin campaign said McConnell is continuing to show that he is “out-of-touch” with the state.

“After spending 30 years in Washington, confusing Duke for Kentucky isn’t the only out-of-touch thing he’s done. McConnell has continuously capitulated to Obama, voted for amnesty, bailouts, and funding for Obamacare,” Bevin spokeswoman Rachel Semmel said in a statement.

See the ad here:

McConnell’s campaign fired back with another jab at Bevin’s resume. And it counters the point Bevin’s attempt to describe himself as the conservative alternative to the senior senator.

“Given Bailout Bevin’s undying commitment to a fictional account of himself and Senator McConnell, we actually expected this ad to be about the time he won a national championship back in the 80s as a point guard for the MIT Engineers. Matt Bailout Bevin is not who he says he is, and he’s certainly not a Kentucky conservative,” McConnell campaign spokeswoman Allison Moore said in a statement to Pure Politics.

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